
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993                   TAG: 9305020222
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: F-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by LARRY SHIELD
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOOKS IN BRIEF

In this short, extremely important book, author Jonathan Rauch explores how in the name of "fairness" and "compassion," how in the rush to ban "verbal violence," how in the attempt to be "sensitive," intellectual thought has been and is being stifled. Rauch's thesis is that as certain inalienable "truths" have been decreed by some intellectuals, further discussion or exploration of differing opinions must be repressed. Such truths include that a definite link between pornography and sex crimes exists, that Darwinian evolution can offer the only explanation about the origin of life, and that Western European thought was not the major influence in American history. Whether the preceding statements can be defended is irrelevant. According to some, any discussion contrary to them cannot be entertained.

A most poignant statement quoted by Rauch sums up his thesis. In a discussion of Holocaust revisionism (the idea that the mass extermination of the Jews in World War II did not happen) Rauch quotes Rabbi Israel Salanter who died six years before Hitler was born. In a statement about controversy, Rabbi Salanter stated "A rabbi whose community does not disagree with him is not really a rabbi, and a rabbi who fears his community is not really a man."

Everyday Life Through The Ages.\ Edited by Asa Briggs. Reader's Digest. $30.

If you ever wondered how a Cro-Magnon man hunted the wooly mammoth with flint tipped weapons, or how the Italians first invented the fork, or how a substance harvested from the scent glands of beavers was used to trap other beavers required for the hat trade in England this is the book to own.

Using the combined talents of 23 writers, nine "Specialist Consultants," 14 artists and one cartographer, Reader's Digest has compiled a lengthy overview of how regular people lived during historical eras from the stone age to the 20th century. The details of the living conditions encountered are well documented in both prose and picture. The index is separated into individual entries and umbrella categories where, for example, all references to medicine are further cross referenced to individual entries within each section of prose.

While some discussions may be too detailed for a individual reader's interest, the scholarship and presentation make this book a welcome addition of any reference shelf.\

The Turing Option.

By Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky. Warner Books. $21.95.

Back in the dark ages of computer intelligence - just after the Second World War - an eccentric mathematician by the name of Alan Turing devised a method to determine if a machine can be truly classified as intelligent. Turing's criteria involved having a human subject ask questions of a machine and a human being. If the subject could not determine if he were conversing with a man or a machine, the machine would be classified as intelligent. (Turing did not devise a similar method to determine if the human subject can be classified as intelligent.)

Veteran science fiction writer Harrison and artificial intelligence expert Minsky have collaborated on a novel which moves Turing's hypothesis one step further. What would happen if the human brain could receive an assist from a microchip the same way the heart can receive an assist from a mechanical balloon pump? The plot is pedestrian, but Harrison's well-honed literary skills flesh out Minsky's scientific expertise and make this book a comfortable read for Trekkies and most general readers.

Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.

by CNB